Ten resonant investigations on issues of corruption and integrity that were published by specialized editorial staffs during the past five years show that the depicted deeds had a greater impact on society and public opinion than the appropriate and timely responses they generated among the responsible institutions, The authorities reacted discretionarily to the journalistic investigations, primarily conjuncturally, depending on the political reality long after the publication of the investigations. In many cases, criminal cases based on information furnished by the journalistic investigations were started after changes occurred at political level. As regards the investigations that referred to the poor management of public funds or appropriation of public property, the cases when responsible persons are brought to justice and the caused damage is recovered are seldom. These are the conclusions of the study “Authorities’ reaction to journalistic investigations centering on integrity and corruption” that was carried out by journalists Viorica Zaharia and Victor Moșneag and was presented in an event hosted by the Association of Independent Press (API) and Transparency International Moldova, IPN reports.
Victor Moșneag spoke about the authorities’ reaction to ten resonant investigations centering on corruption and integrity. The first investigation referred to the Chirtoacă brothers and was published by Ziarul de Gardă on January 28, 2016. The journalists determined that the then mayor general of Chisinau municipality Dorin Chirtoacă signed ordinances and other documents by which he allowed a firm based in the apartment of the mother-in-law of the mayor’s brother Lucian Chirtoacă to place a number of stalls to sell coffee in central Chisinau. The case remained unfinished. Dorin Chirtoacă left the mayor’s office and became party leader, even if those facts were confirmed in December 2020. Another investigation of Ziarul de Gardă, of March 3, 2016, showed that Mariana Pitic, who then worked as a judge at the Centru branch of the Chisinau City Court, in her tax return indicated a Porsche car that costs only 11,000 lei. In her last tax returns, she didn’t indicate the property of her husband who is a prosperous businessman owning a luxury building in suburban Chisinau.
On May 25, 2016, MoldovaCurata.md published an investigation concerning the Ungheni mayor’s office. The portal published two investigations about the mayor of Ungheni municipality Alexandru Ambros, which showed that in 2009-2012 the firm of the Ambros family won eight public procurement contests from the Ungheni mayor’s office to the value of about 700,000 lei and in 2015 the mayor continued to sign contracts with his wife’s firm based on direct negotiations. The National Integrity Authority issued a document ascertaining the violation and asked to deprive the mayor of his post.
The other investigations referred to judge Oleg Sternioală, judge Oleg Melniciuc, the family of ex-Deputy Speaker of Parliament Vladimir Plahotniuc, the mayor of Căușeni Grigore Repeșciuc, illegal privatization procedures in Chisinau at the start of 2019, the building of a modern sports complex in Rezina, and to former acting chief prosecutor of the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Ruslan Popov.
